Severe childhood obesity shows a decline in New York City

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Appearing to buck national trends, the
prevalence of severe obesity among school children in New York
City was down by almost 10 percent in the 2010-11 school year
from 2006-07, researchers reported on Thursday.

Earlier research had shown a decline in overall obesity
among New York City public school children, but the prevalence
of severe obesity had not been studied. Public health experts
have worried that while "easy" cases of obesity were being
addressed, more and more children might be moving from being
merely obese to extremely so, putting them at risk for heart
disease, diabetes and other illnesses.

In New York City, at least, that appears not to be
happening.

The study, published in the journal Preventing Chronic
Disease, was based on height and weight measurements of 947,765
children attending public schools in kindergarten through eighth
grade.

Severe obesity fell from 6.3 percent of the children in the
2006-07 school year to 5.7 percent in 2010-11, according to the
researchers, who were led by Sophia Day of the New York City
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The change represents a
9.5 percent decrease.

"I think there is potentially a glimmer of hope here," said
Asheley Cockrell Skinner of the University of North Carolina
School of Medicine, an expert on childhood obesity who was not
involved in the study.

Childhood obesity is based on body mass index (BMI), which
is weight (in kilograms) divided by height (in meters) squared.
But unlike adult obesity, which starts at a BMI of 30, and
extreme obesity (a BMI of 40 or more), childhood obesity is not
defined by a set number.

In the New York study, the prevalence of severe obesity was
highest among boys, minorities and poor children. Although
prevalence declined in every group, the greatest decrease was
among white students and wealthy students.

Last month, Skinner and Dr Joseph Skelton of Wake Forest
School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, reported in
JAMA Pediatrics that 8 percent of 2-to-19-year-olds are severely
obese, according to data from 2011-2012. That was up from 6
percent in 2005-06.

It is not clear what might explain the progress against
severe childhood obesity in New York, but "the city likes to be
out in front in trying new things" such as healthier school
lunches, Skinner said.

"There's not a lot of evidence for most of these policies,
so it's good to see that at least they're not doing harm," such
as causing kids dissatisfied with healthy school lunches to wolf
down pizza and ice cream on their way home, he added.